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Pontius Pilate’s name found on 2,000-year-old ring — but did it belong to the man who sentenced Jesus?

An 1881 painting of Jesus Christ in front of Pontius Pilate, who served as Roman prefect of the province of Judea from about AD 26 to 36.Photo: Mihály Munkácsy

The New York Times

Published: December 1, 2018 - 12:11 AM

The name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who ordered the killing of Jesus, according to the Gospel, is mentioned in thousands of sermons every year and is familiar to countless people, but little is known about his life and work.

To the very short list of clues about Pilate as a historical figure, archaeologists have added one more: a 2,000-year-old copper alloy ring bearing his name.

The ring was discovered in the late 1960s, one of thousands of artifacts found in the excavation of Herodium, an ancient fortress and palace south of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. But it was not until recently that researchers, analyzing those objects with advanced photography, were able to decipher the ring’s inscription.

It reads “of Pilates,” in Greek letters set around a picture of a wine vessel known as a krater, and is said by archaeologists to be only the second artifact from his time ever found with his name. Kraters are a common image in artifacts of that time and place.

The findings were published last week in the Israel Exploration Journal, an archaeological review in Israel.

Views and cross-section of ring that may have belonged to Pontius Pilate.

Pilate was the prefect, or governor, of the province of Judea, on the western fringes of the Roman Empire, roughly from A.D. 26 to 36.

The report says it is unlikely that the ring belonged to Pilate, in part because such simple rings usually belonged to soldiers and lesser officials, not to someone as wealthy and powerful as a prefect.

“Simple all-metal rings were primarily the property of soldiers, Herodian and Roman officials, and middle-income folk of all trades and occupations,” a team of academics wrote in the Israel Exploration Journal. “It is therefore unlikely that Pontius Pilatus, the powerful and rich prefect of Judaea, would have worn a thin, all copper alloy sealing ring.”

But a team of academics, including archeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, think the ring belonged to Pontius Pilate himself.

“I don’t know of any other Pilatus from the period and the ring shows he was a person of stature and wealth,” Danny Schwartz, a professor of Jewish history, told Haaretz newspaper.

Roi Porat, the director of a new phase of digging at Herodium, who ordered the detailed analysis of the ring, told The Times of Israel that while he did not want to jump to conclusions, “we have a ring inscribed with the name Pilate and the personal connection just cries out”.

Porat said it was possible Pilate had a gold ring for ceremonial duties and a copper one for every day wear.

He added, “There is no way of proving either theory 100 per cent and everyone can have his own opinion. It’s a nice story and interesting to wrap your head around.”

The New Testament story of Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to an angry crowd with the words “behold the man” — “ecce homo” in Latin — was a central theme of religious art for centuries.

Beyond the Gospel, most of what little is known about Pilate comes from the surviving work of ancient historians Flavius Josephus, a Jew, and Tacitus, a Roman.

Herodium, where the ring was found, was built by Herod the Great, a client king of the Roman Empire, and is the site of his tomb. (One of his sons, also named Herod, was king in Jesus’ time.) The site is controlled by Israel and is claimed by Palestinians.

The ring was found in a room filled with bits of glass, shards of pottery, arrowheads, coins and other items.

The so-called Pilate stone, discovered in 1961.

The language of the ring’s inscription is Greek, which Roman officials used to communicate with the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. It could have been used for official correspondence by Pilate himself and his officials who had to sign his name.

The first archaeological find in Judea that mentioned Pilate was a fragment of carved stone, discovered in 1961, in the ancient port city of Caesarea. It is known as the Pilate stone and is kept at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

“It solved the problem of what actual title he had,” said Jonathan Price, professor of classics and ancient history at Tel Aviv University.

According to Price, for historians of the Roman period, Pilate was just one of a string of Roman officials who were sent to Judea to govern and keep the peace. Were it not for his biblical role, “he would be remembered as a Roman official who didn’t do so well,” he said.

During his decade long tenure, which was longer than usual, Pilate displayed hostility to local residents and nearly provoked two uprisings.

“He was called back and called to account for what seemed to be a lack of competence,” Price said. “And after that we don’t really hear about him.”